Warlords of Draenor Developer Interviews
PvP Live had the opportunity to interview Holinka and Kim Phan this weekend during their PvP Tournament.

eSports

Blizzard is always looking to make WoW a better esport.

Right now the team mostly focuses on 3v3 arenas, but they want to hear what the community wants in regards to eSports, in PvP or otherwise.

Arenas are a big part of what makes WoW an eSport, but there may be other parts of WoW that players would also be interested in. For example, some players enjoy the Live Raid at Blizzcon.

Other partners have reached out to Blizzard to see what tools they are putting in place to support eSports, including MLG.

PvP can be hard to watch, especially with TDM being much faster in other games. In WoW, it can take 15 minutes for someone to die or something exciting to happen, which is a long time for someone watching that isn't very familiar with the game. This can be partially mitigated by casters keeping viewers informed with what is going on and why.

The game has to be fun to play before it can be fun to watch. The next step is having tools that make it easier to watch, such as spectator mode.

The devs are looking at the smaller things they can do to grow the WoW eSports community.

Spectator Mode

Being able to set the time before Dampening activates in Spectator Mode games isn't planned right now, as having inconsistent rules would make arenas harder to watch.

The addition of spectator mode for Warlords of Draenor arenas being one example of something the community has been requesting for a long time that is finally being added.

PvP in Warlords of Draenor

If the team makes a balance change, players get upset about the changes that were made. If they don't make any balance changes, people complain that the game is starting to feel stale.

The team has been trying to increase the participation in PvP, without hurting the game that people already doing PvP love.

The way that CC and DR works is hidden to many players, but it is also one of the important parts of competitive PvP. The team would like to make them less complex, as complexity is good when it adds depth, but not good when complexity exists for no reason.

The PvP game is going to feel very new and different in Warlords of Draenor, almost starting from scratch with balance. This time around the team will spend a lot of time on iterating on things and collecting feedback from top players that give useful feedback.

Holinka

Holinka does rated battlegrounds and arenas most days of the week, as well as some arenas at lunch almost every day.

He also plays other games as time permits, such as Titanfall and Stick of Truth. There are lessons to be learned from playing other games.

He had 6 characters and 8 specs that he played last season, so he understands the effort it takes to cap on alts.

Blizzard at PAX East

Originally Posted by Blizzard
(Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Grab your gear and saddle up, because we’re headed to PAX East!

PAX attendees should ready themselves for three days of demon slaying, sword swinging, hero playing, and card slinging awesomeness, as this year we’ll be featuring all-new builds for our most recent and upcoming games, hands-on time at demo stations, an epic developer panel, and awesome giveaways and prizes. Come by and check everything out at BOOTH #848! We’ll be there from 10AM to 6PM, Friday, April 11 through Sunday, April 13.

Here’s what you can expect at this year’s Blizzard booth:

Warlords of Draenor hands-on demo featuring updated character models and the intro experience for the upcoming expansion.

A brand-new demo for Heroes of the Storm, featuring new Heroes playable for the first time anywhere outside of Blizzard.

Blizzard developers will be on-hand to chat about your favorite games.

Blizzard developers will also be giving a presentation at the Albatross Theatre on Friday, April 11 at 10:30 a.m. EDT titled Heroes of the Storm: The Ultimate Blizzard Mashup (streamed live on one of the official PAX Twitch channels for those not in attendance).

And did we mention there will be giveaways, prizes, and more? If not . . . there will be giveaways, prizes, and more!

Head on over to east.paxsite.com for panel schedules and hotel and travel information.

We hope to see you there!

Blue Tweets

Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment

ClassesDeath Knight (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)quick question. why cant i use death's advande when using the glyphed version of pillar of frost...?
20 seconds of CC immunity with no downside is too good. (holinka)

Need way to dump RP to AE. Feels like this has always been missing. Most common request for 5.0 and now 6.0.
Sindragosa's Breath. (Celestalon)Indeed, but cd means it cannot be used to dump RP, and talent means not universal. Many DKs will cont to FrostStrike/DCoil in AE
That's fine. The whole row helps with AoE. Doesn't have to be an RP spender. (Celestalon)

I mean, to a pt that a talent can chng your gameplay ? Bcause with what we can read now, i don't think so and it makes me sad
Yeah, some of the lvl100 talents are pretty significant changes. Necrotic Plague for Unholy = the Festerblight rotation. (Celestalon)
Sindragosa's Breath also changes your rotation quite significantly, primarily for the DPS DKs. Makes you want to pool... (Celestalon)
...RP as it's coming off cooldown, and generate/dump RM as much as you can while it's up, to keep it going as long as poss. (Celestalon)I feel like it would have to proc rune talents for that to be effective
It does. (Celestalon)is conversion going to proc them also?
We're thinking about that one still. Possibly. (Celestalon)

Druid (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)yall nerfing gaurdian druids in PvP or nahh?
You are the first person to ever complain to me about Guardian Druids in PvP (holinka)really? Theyre incredible good flagcarriers
There's nothing wrong with a class being good at something. (holinka)

The balance druid eclipse mechanic is very clunky, can we do something with it in WoD. Like remove it?
Eclipse is the defining mechanic of Moonkin. Virtually zero chance that we'd remove it. (Celestalon)

Can you tell us if Equinox for balance druids has changed? It sounded too powerful to be true, or Eclipse is lower to fit it in.
Equinox is still in, yep. (Celestalon)

Will there be an glyph for old efflorescence though? The on-demand placeable AoE heal far more valuable in WoD healing model!
Not planning to. Moving your Shroom is still on-demand placeable AoE healing. (Celestalon)

Mage (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)arcane IS very boring to play and it DOES suffer from movement the MOST. arcane mobility v warlocks\hunters not fair.
Arcane is intentionally very movement inhibited. That's one of its downsides. (Celestalon)

Monk (Forums / Skills / WoD Talent Calculator)Has it been a couple weeks yet? Let's Take A Jab At It has dropped! More WW, MW soon(tm). with http://t.co/D84wRW8Bo1
I think you guys are imagining some huge "us vs the developers" thing that we don't even see as there. There seems to be this misconception that we are saying "You guys are doing it all wrong, and could be doing WAY more damage!" or something. Saying that we are telling you avoid haste like the plague is just strawmanning. I think this all started when there was some really silly bad theorycraft going around in like 5.1 or 5.2 that said to take Ascension, max max MAX haste, and don't use FoF or EB at all. That was quite wrong, and we pointed out, then words have been put in our mouth since then. Result is, haste/crit/mastery are all really close, and we've seen top performance with each, as long as you don't energy cap, and make good use of FoF/EB.Future of FoF: If +30% dmg will make you satisfied... you'll be elated. (Celestalon).Do you think the lack of lots of other high secondary stats stems from lack of wanting to try them? Or follow the leader?
Following the leader is an incredibly strong effect in our community. Not sure what you're referring to exactly here though. (Celestalon)

Why is orb spam being removed not mentioned. Its the only burst heal instant monk got not tied to big cds
...except for Surging Mist, right? Remember that retuning is happening. Surging is lackluster in 5.4, won't be in 6.0. (Celestalon)

Are fistweavers and windwalkers (or melee in general?) supposed to attract desecrated weapon on garrosh?
It's distance-based, not spec-based. (WatcherDev)

War Crimes Novel Sneak Peek
You can find an excerpt from the War Crimes novel here.

Originally Posted by Blizzard
(Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

The brutal siege of Orgrimmar may be over, but Garrosh Hellscream, the most infamous orc on Azeroth, has yet to face justice. Bound in chains by his enemies, the deposed tyrant of the Horde must now answer for his crimes. Alongside renowned leaders from across Azeroth, you will bear witness to his long-awaited trial.

Visions of Garrosh’s past atrocities are presented in vivid detail for all to see. But as history is revisited, old grievances and bitter memories come to light, and those in attendance begin to wonder if anyone among them is truly innocent. Mounting tensions and rising enmity steer the court to the brink of chaos . . . as the world waits with bated breath for the verdict on the war crimes of Garrosh Hellscream.

War Crimes, the new World of Warcraft novel by author Christie Golden, follows the dramatic events that grip Azeroth in the wake of the siege of Orgrimmar . . . and delves into long-buried secrets that may have been best left uncovered. Pre-order now and you can be one of the first to learn just what the future holds for the residents of Azeroth and the recently dethroned warchief of the Horde.

I was really hoping they got it through their heads that Warcraft is not an Esport. PVP is a minigame at best. If you want to make it a bonafide Esport you need to make 3 Specs for every class that are PVP only.

What are you people talking about? Who's thinking grinding out bgs for 100 honor a loss, or 250+ a win towards 7250 is the "fast way?" LFR is 15-45 minutes and you maybe have two bosses each tier with weapons you can use. How badly has your RNG been?

(1) Save up 4000 JP before the start of the new PvP season

(2) After the season starts, run Grizzly Hills and Venture Bay PvP dailies for six days, with guild banner.

(2) After the season starts, run Grizzly Hills and Venture Bay PvP dailies for six days, with guild banner.

(3) Convert JP to honor. You can now buy your weapon.

I don't think you get it. Pvp weapons are not obtained faster than LFR weapons. Easy? As long as you understand calling a grind easy is just addressing the fact that its not RNG related, then yes, its easy. Worst case scenario, I may have ran a boss 5 times before the weapon dropped. Less time investment, but no guarantee it will be so for everyone else. Also, can we all agree that running bgs for pve content, or raiding for arena/rated bgs needs to stop being viable?

So, you're guaranteed to get that LFR weapon drop in six days? Please tell me more!

If you are objecting to a process stretching over six days, I suggest chain running random heroic 5 mans. You get 250 honor for a 5 boss 5 man, so after a couple of dozen runs, you have your weapon.

Oh my god time investment. Do you understand what time is? The elapsing of seconds, minutes, hours. Yes, LFR is faster. You are chain farming bgs for 13 hours to get a weapon as opposed to maybe 3 hours stretched between different play sessions. Get an alt, do battlepets, go outside ffs. If you wanna argue, understand what the hell you are arguing against.

Oh my god time investment. Do you understand what time is? The elapsing of seconds, minutes, hours. Yes, LFR is faster.

Remember, you may have to burn all your charms on up to four separate runs to maximize the chance a weapon drops. If the weapons you want are in loot tables with many entries, the chance you get a drop can be quite low, even if you burn charms.

Wanna make it a better esport? Simple, separate the aspects of the game, then there's only one thing you need to balance for. All other MMO's do it now, Blizzard shouldn't feel that they need not to, just to feel 'different'. I mean there is cause in the MMO universe to have your own way, do your own thing. But after so long, this is not the way to do it. If there comes a big PvP change that seems to have stemmed from this want to improve the games esport standing, then people as a cop out to the otherside of things, regardless of if it's a dramatic change to PvE or not. I'm obviously not saying make it two games, but for all intent and purpose, some aspects of a game this large should be separated by a visible line, but it's apparent that some parts of PvE and PvP are still very blurred.

whats the big deal about spectator mode? i could care less about watching someone else pvp. its not going to help my game play when the people i am watching probably have 100x better macro/mouse set ups than i do, if anything just bring back skirmish and all will be right. you should learn from playing not from watching.

"The PvP game is going to feel very new and different in Warlords of Draenor, almost starting from scratch with balance. This time around the team will spend a lot of time on iterating on things and collecting feedback from top players that give useful feedback."

Thanks for asking the 0.0000001% of elite(think nerd savants) how best to fuck up pvp for the 99.999999%! lol bunch of fing idiots. Nice pvp game development! Hey lets make healers even more godly and put more cc into the game!

Hey Holinka Dinka play a random bg once in a while with an ungeared toon, you know like most people pvp in the game not the small percentage. You can see how f'd up your crappy Q system is.... Premades vs. pugs, no gear vs geared, healers vs team with no healers. Its a total F%#^fest of great player experience.

Yes, if you get lucky, it's fast. Marvelous grasp of probability you have there, champ.

Haha. Your ability to condescend on the topic is funny. You'd rather run content for a minimum of 13 hours straight to get a lower ilvl weapon, instead of getting one in the content its suited for, while also having multiple chances to upgrade all your other equipment slots? If you want to pvp, fine, but don't try to perpetuate the notion that pvp grinding for a single item over hours upon hours of play is somehow faster for a pve focused player. Your time management skills are atrocious and you really shouldn't be trying to give anyone advice. Marvelous grasp on efficiency, champ.

Haha. Your ability to condescend on the topic is funny. You'd rather run content for a minimum of 13 hours straight to get a lower ilvl weapon, instead of getting one in the content its suited for, while also having multiple chances to upgrade all your other equipment slots?

My preferences have nothing to do with what we were discussing. We were discussing whether it is faster to get the PvP weapon or the PvE weapon. The calendar time required to get the PvP weapon is much shorter than the expected time to get the PvE weapon, since it's not gated by a weekly lockout and RNG.

I'll argue the aggravation to get the PvP weapon is also lower, if one goes the daily quest route.

My preferences have nothing to do with what we were discussing. We were discussing whether it is faster to get the PvP weapon or the PvE weapon. The calendar time required to get the PvP weapon is much shorter than the expected time to get the PvE weapon, since it's not gated by a weekly lockout and RNG.

I'll argue the aggravation to get the PvP weapon is also lower, if one goes the daily quest route.

The point is, we are arguing about an opinion, while you were trying to prove your point by defacing me. Try not to be a mmo-champion stereotype, buddy.